It's now official. The UN has confirmed that the Assad forces in Syria are once again making use of chemical weapons on a repeated basis. Remember that the Assad forces are supported by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. It was just about two years ago that president Obama announced an "agreement" with Russia and Assad under which there would be no more use of chemical weapons and Assad would give up all his existing stocks of these weapons. That obviously didn't happen.
This outcome is not a surprise. The agreement that Obama put in place had no method for verification that Syria had actually given up all its weapons. The agreement also has no consequences specified that might deter Assad from once again raining death by gas from the skies on his own people. If Donald Trump were here, he would tell us that Obama and his people don't know how to negotiate. That's true, but it's of little solace to all those people dying in Syria from being gassed.
Before there was an agreement, there was Obama's red line which declared that the USA would not tolerate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Obama threw that away when he entered into the agreement. It is time, however, to bring that back. We have forces in the area that could easily hit the concentrations of Assad's army. In the civil war in Syria, there are no aircraft flying against Assad. American and coalition planes have just hit ISIS targets. The Russians and Syrian planes have occasionally hit ISIS but spent most of their time bombing the positions of the non-ISIS rebels. Just imagine the change it would bring if Assad's forces paid the price for their use of chemical weapons. President Obama should launch a major series of punitive raids against the Assad forces. He should clearly announce that these are the response to the use of the chemical weapons and that the raids are limited both in duration and scope. He should tell Assad (as well as Iran and Russia) that any further use of chemical weapons will lead to an even stronger response.
Sadly, I know that Obama will never take such an action. Instead, we may get some statement from the White House that the use of chemical weapons is on the wrong side of history, but that will be about it. Meanwhile, civilians in Syria will continue to be gassed.
I can't wait for Obama to be gone.
This outcome is not a surprise. The agreement that Obama put in place had no method for verification that Syria had actually given up all its weapons. The agreement also has no consequences specified that might deter Assad from once again raining death by gas from the skies on his own people. If Donald Trump were here, he would tell us that Obama and his people don't know how to negotiate. That's true, but it's of little solace to all those people dying in Syria from being gassed.
Before there was an agreement, there was Obama's red line which declared that the USA would not tolerate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Obama threw that away when he entered into the agreement. It is time, however, to bring that back. We have forces in the area that could easily hit the concentrations of Assad's army. In the civil war in Syria, there are no aircraft flying against Assad. American and coalition planes have just hit ISIS targets. The Russians and Syrian planes have occasionally hit ISIS but spent most of their time bombing the positions of the non-ISIS rebels. Just imagine the change it would bring if Assad's forces paid the price for their use of chemical weapons. President Obama should launch a major series of punitive raids against the Assad forces. He should clearly announce that these are the response to the use of the chemical weapons and that the raids are limited both in duration and scope. He should tell Assad (as well as Iran and Russia) that any further use of chemical weapons will lead to an even stronger response.
Sadly, I know that Obama will never take such an action. Instead, we may get some statement from the White House that the use of chemical weapons is on the wrong side of history, but that will be about it. Meanwhile, civilians in Syria will continue to be gassed.
I can't wait for Obama to be gone.
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